Coarse and Coffee
by Rebekah Kroeplin
Summary: It's college years and Molly Hooper is working at a café to pay off the expenses. It started out as a normal day except things suddenly got interesting later . . . (Sherlock/Molly implications, short story)


**Inspired by Zora Arian for her having asked me to post something of Sherlolly on here and even gave me the inspiration to draw a few things for Sherlock BBC. :) Thanks!**

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**Coarse and Coffee**

It was cold. Really cold, if you wanted to get into specifics. Honestly, Molly felt like she was being frozen from the outside in as she struggled to walk correctly towards her destination.

Why did she bring not bright a coat? _Why couldn't I have brought a coat?!_ She thought. _Stupid, stupid, Molly Hopper!_

The café was only a few short blocks away and, on any other day, this would have been true. Yet, the few short blocks turned into mile stones stretched out beneath her, slowing time in place for the sake of mockery on Molly's part for not having dressed correctly for the weather. She could hear her mother scold her for not being proper, wearing only a thin long sleeved shirt and jeans that did nothing to help. Goodness, how she loved not having to deal with that type of embarrassment now.

Her destination came into sight; it was a café, small in stature yet still warm and inviting with its lovely coloring and interior design she could see threw the large windows. There was a sign hanging over the door that was decorative with its looping font stating **Rémi's Café and Pastry Shop**. Molly went to the door and pushed it open with her shoulder, going inside.

The interior was even more of a welcoming sight. Molly smiled at all the warm colors and lavish Italian furniture and tables.

Immediately when she entered, a man who was greeting guests near the door way turned and his face lit up at the sight of her.

"Ah! Molly, you are just in time!" he excused himself and walked towards her. "I need you to look after the cash register in a few minutes when Lidia leaves for her trip to Seattle. For now, there are dishes to be washed in the back."

Molly smiled, though her body still screamed for rest from the night before. She hadn't gotten any sleep with term papers due and large amounts of studying to be had.

"Alright, thank you, Rémi," she kept smiling, hoping her wouldn't notice her tiredness.

But her boss had left even before she could finished her sentence with a good natured wave and seemed to skip towards a couple who'd walked in. Molly smiled. She really did like her boss even though he was short, had little amounts of hair left on his head and smiled like a one of those clowns you see at carnivals with the scary masks and face paint. There was something to be said about someone that could smile that much.

She worked for the rest of the day, taking over the cash register from her coworker, Lidia, who only smacked her gum and left without saying goodbye. While customers reduced between morning and mid afternoon, she cleared tables and chatted a bit with certain regulars that she'd grown to enjoy talking to. When rush hour came, she busied herself with orders and later switched roles with Kent, who had been working in the back washing dishes. By the time it was 3 o' and closing time (for it was a Sunday) she'd worked a total of seven hours and didn't have much left going for her physically with her aching feet and now red fingers courtesy of cleaning too many coffee cups.

Customers dwindled till there was no one left. Molly scrapped a stool across the floor around the cash register and sat herself down with a long sigh. Rémi brought her a cup of coffee which she took gratefully, realizing she hadn't eaten lunch or breakfast. She went back and took herself a muffin, paying for it herself when she sat back down. She ate in happy silence while most of her coworkers left to go home, some saying goodbye, most not. She sipped her coffee and held it in her fingers, starring off into space thinking about nothing which was a rather pleasant feeling. She didn't notice the door open.

Footsteps came towards, tapping the tile floor as the person came closer. Molly continued to stir her coffee aimlessly with a spoon. Someone cleared their throat.

She jumped, dropping the spoon in her coffee with a slight gasp.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention at all," she stammered, her face growing red.

The man before her wasn't even looking at her, but off somewhere else like he couldn't bother to pay attention to someone he'd just met and was already bored with. "Obviously," he stated.

Molly shook her head and moved her cup of coffee to the side. "I'm sorry, but we're actually closed-"

"You're not if you're still here, sitting at the cashier thinking while all your other co-works have left without so much as a goodbye. Also, there is no sign indicating that that it is closed. Really, your clock is fast for it is only 2:58 and I don't even need a watch to tell me that."

Molly's eyes widen and her hands clutched the sides of her stool not knowing what to think. How on Earth . . .?

"Really, Molly. Gapping is not an attractive look, especially when directed at strangers." He _still_ looked bored and merely glanced her way after speaking.

Her cheeks reddened once again. "How do you know my name?"

He gave her a flat look. "You have a name tag. There wasn't much deducing involved with that."

Oh, dear. Now she was completely embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry, but we really are closed and-"

"Must I go through this again? I merely want coffee and the coffee machine is just behind you. Please pour me a cup, I will pay. Black, two sugars. Do be quick, I haven't got all day."

Molly stayed where she was starring at the man's chest, not sure how to react to someone's rude behavior. Eventually, she relented and stood, taking a plastic cup off the counter behind her and pouring coffee into it. Her hands shook while she did this. Molly could feel the man's eyes on her. Her jaw twitched and her stomach tightened at the unwanted attention. She turned back and set the coffee down putting two sugars in. "Um . . . that will cost one pound and fifty pence."

He put the money down on the counter and took up his cup of coffee, sipping it with a thoughtful expression. He then turned and left. Just like that.

Molly stood, not quite sure how to react to such strange behavior. He seemed rude, full of himself and had confidence in all that he just said and did. She took her coffee in the back and poured it down the sink. All the sudden, her appetite for it was ruined. She stood leaning over the sink with her palms on the edge of it with her coffee cup still hanging on her right forefinger and thumb.

Despite all the rudeness and him having forced her to dump her coffee . . . he was still impossibly handsome.

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This is the first installment; I'd like to do more short stories revolving around Sherlock, Molly and Rémi's Café and Pastry Shop. For now, this is just a prologue . . . or a beginning of sorts. :)


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